Both pieces stand in the middle of the back rank, between the bishops. The queen is on the d-file, the king on the e-file, the same for both sides.
The check is simple: queens and kings face their counterparts. If the White queen ends up opposite the Black king, the board has been set up wrong, and the whole game will not follow the rules: castling goes to the wrong side and the usual opening moves stop working.
The king always starts on a square of the opposite colour: the White king on dark e1, the Black king on light e8. This follows directly from the queen rule rather than being a separate rule.
Working out a square's colour is easy: add the file number and the rank number. An odd sum means a light square, an even sum a dark one. For d1 that is 4 + 1 = 5, so light. For e1 it is 5 + 1 = 6, so dark.
In practice there is no need to count: just remember "queen on her colour" and put the king next to her. How both pieces move - how the queen moves and how the king moves.
It is a mnemonic made for exactly one mistake - swapping the king and queen. The White queen goes on a light square, the Black queen on a dark one. "Her colour" means the colour of the piece itself, not the opponent's colour.
People sometimes ask the reverse: does the king go on his own colour too? No. The king stands on a square of the opponent's colour, and the saying does not apply to him. You only need to remember one piece - the queen - and the king falls into place.
There is also a check that needs no saying at all: the White queen faces the Black queen, the White king faces the Black king. A glance down the files shows the mistake straight away.
The queen rule only works if the board is turned the right way. There is one check: the corner square nearest you on the right must be light- "light on the right". For White that is h1, for Black it is a8 on their side.
If the board is turned round, the light corner ends up on the left, and then "queen on her colour" will set the pieces up as a mirror image. So the order is: turn the board first, then place the queen, then everything else.
More on squares, files and coordinates - the chess board.
If the mistake is spotted before the first move, simply swap the king and queen. If the game is already under way, under FIDE rules the game is cancelled and a new one is started from the correct position; the moves already played do not count.
At a tournament the arbiter decides such cases, and if the mistake is found in the first few moves it usually comes down to a replay from the starting position. How this works at competitions - arbiting a chess tournament.
In a friendly game it is easier to agree: set up again and start over. The main thing is not to try to "play on as it is": a mirrored setup breaks castling, and an argument about it will come up anyway.
On the e-file: the White king on e1, the Black king on e8. Next to him, on the d-file, stands the queen. The kings face each other, and so do the queens.
A square of the opponent's colour: the White king on dark e1, the Black king on light e8. This follows from the queen rule - the queen goes on a square of her own colour.
It is the rule for placing the queen: the White queen goes on the light square d1, the Black queen on the dark square d8. Once the queen is placed correctly, you cannot mix up the king: he takes the square next to her.
Check two things: the queen stands on a square of her own colour, and each piece faces its counterpart - queen opposite queen, king opposite king. If the White queen faces the Black king, the setup is mirrored.
The corner square nearest you on the right must be light. If it is dark, turn the board round: otherwise "queen on her colour" will set the pieces up as a mirror image.
The Vibe Chess app is built for an evening over the board, not for online play: it keeps the sign-up list, the pairings and the table while you deal with people and the venue. All of it free.
The bot is constantly improved based on real tournaments. If you need a feature that isn't there yet, message the developers right inside the bot with the /support command. Many features appeared exactly because organizers asked for them, and useful ideas get added quickly.
The start - chess board setup, how many pieces there are in chess, the chess board. Next - how chess pieces move and castling.
